The Bedazzling Adventures of an Unfortunate Time Traveller
by Stupido
Summary: "They look alike, don't they?" Although it was true, both women knew it was impossible. "We could pretend that they are twins." Mrs Cole nodded. "Tom Marvolo and Hadrian Ignotus Riddle" TIMETRAVEL. HPTR. HPLV. HPOC? SLASH. TWINCEST. An unfortunate accident at the Ministry leads to many changes in time.
1. Prologue

**The Bedazzling Adventures of an Unfortunate Time Traveller**

**Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling**

**Summary: "They look alike, don't they?" Although it was true, both women knew it was impossible. "We could pretend that they are twins." Mrs Cole nodded. "Tom Marvolo and Hadrian Ignotus Riddle" TIMETRAVEL. HPTR. HPLV. SLASH. TWINCEST. An unfortunate accident at the Ministry leads to many changes in time.**

**A/N: I wasn't satisfied with the first chapter/prologue, so I revised it. I want to thank everyone for the reviews, favourites and follows and I hope you'll still like the story.**

_Prologue_

Bend. Duck. Roll. Avoid.

That were the only things Harry was focused on.

Damn.

Damn his stupid hero-complex. Why did he have to play the role of the hero? The Gryffindor.

Expelliarmus. Protego. Stupefy.

Green, red, blue, purple lights everywhere. The air in the room was stuffy and electric due to all the spells that were fired. It was magical.

Evade. Run.

Harry observed his surroundings. People from both sides were being hit by all kinds of spells. The older wizards and witches could handle themselves, but that did not apply to the younger ones. Most of the spells were unknown to the fourth and fifth year students. It was horrid. It was terrifying. But the Death Eaters were not aiming on the students.

Jump.

They were aiming on him. On the Prophesied. The one who is supposed to vanquish the Dark Lord. His friends were in this mess because of him. The aurors were here because of him. He was here because of Voldemort.

Voldemort.

The Dark Lord.

And Harry was supposed to take him on and save the Wizarding World. But the Boy-Who-Lived couldn't even save himself from this situation. Never mind his friends and the aurors. How was he supposed to come up to expectations? The sole thing Harry was certain of, was that everything was his fault. It was his fault that his friends were getting injured.

Stupefy. Protego.

What if he would run away? Would the Death Eaters come after him? He could try. He was going to try.

Slowly.

Hesitating to the exit.

Were the Death Eaters coming? Preoccupied with executing his plan, he didn't notice Lucius' and Bellatrix's sudden disappearance. It was the Bedazzling Hex, which concealed them and gave them the opportunity to eliminate the boy unnoticed. They were firing spell after spell.

Crucio. Crucio. Confringo. Expulso.

Harry turned around and ran.

Run. Run. Don't trip.

His legs were taking him towards an unknown destination. An unknown, safe destination. A door appeared on his left. Should he enter? What if it was a trap?

Expulso.

He duck just on time and entered the room. Once he was in, the door disappeared. Just like the door of the Room of Requirement. Lucius and Bellatrix were not pleased and fired Expulso after Expulso at the spot where the door should have been. While the Gryffindor searched for a hiding place, the Death Eaters broke into the room. The enormous explosion broke most of the objects in the room. Mysterious, dangerous objects. Amongst other things a suspicious looking jar with blue sand. Most of the blue sand ended up on Harry. And after a deafening noise the boy disappeared into nothingness.

There was a weird sensation in his stomach. A sensation that felt a bit suspect to that of a Portkey.

_February 27th, 1927_

Although it was already February, the snow hadn't melted. A bone chilling cold reigned everywhere in England. Due to the war the orphanages had to work with reduced funds. The children had to sleep in groups and share their blankets. The babies had to share their cots. And they had to do it with the little bits of food they would get from the generous. Wool's orphanage too.

When someone knocked on the door of Wool's orphanage, Ben thought it was the nice backer that brought them some bread once in a while. So he opened the door –although Martha told him not to. To his own amazement he saw no one and wanted to close the door, but he heard a sound from a distance and went to check it out.

Right. Around the corner. In an alley.

On the ground was a box covered with snow. Ben hesitated._ 'What if it's filled with spiders?'_ But the ten year old mustered all his courage, removed the snow and opened the box.

"MRS COLE! MARTHA!"

The women ran to the boy, while thinking of the worst.

"What is it Benjamin? Did something happen?" Martha asked him.

The only thing he did, was giving the box, while telling her to be careful. The helper slowly opened the box and gasped.

"What? What is it?" Mrs Cole asked her.

Martha couldn't get the words out, so she gave the box to the matron. In the box lay a naked baby, his lips blue from the cold. There were no blankets to keep him warm. Only a letter with his name scribbled on it.

"Hadrian Ignotus Peverell," Mrs Cole whispered.

Both women snapped out of it and hurried to save the baby. Without any clothes and blankets he could die from hypothermia! The baby was taken to the nursery.

"There isn't a cot left," Martha told the matron.

Mrs Cole eyed the cot in the corner of the room. Only one baby lay in it._ 'The Riddle kid,'_ she thought. Every time someone tried to put a baby next to Riddle, the infant began to cry. The desperate woman tried it anyway. Riddle, who was sleeping at first, woke immediately and watched the other baby. It was as if he was studying Hadrian. When Riddle kept quiet, the women understood the infant was approved. Mrs Cole took a breath and turned to her helper.

"Martha, nobody must find out. We can't tell anyone Hadrian was found in a box," she said while stressing box.

Martha nodded vigorously and repeated: "Nobody will find out"

While they stared at the two babies, Martha got an excellent idea.

"They look alike, don't they?"

Although it was true, both women knew it was impossible. The woman who gave birth to Riddle, passed away after the delivery.

"We could pretend that they are twins."

Mrs Cole nodded.

"Tom Marvolo and Hadrian Ignotus Riddle"


	2. Chapter 1

**The Bedazzling Adventures of an Unfortunate Time Traveller**

**Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling**

**Summary: "They look alike, don't they?" Although it was true, both women knew it was impossible. "We could pretend that they are twins." Mrs Cole nodded. "Tom Marvolo and Hadrian Ignotus Riddle" TIMETRAVEL. HPTR. HPLV. SLASH. TWINCEST. An unfortunate accident at the Ministry leads to many changes in time.**

**A/N: I want to tell you that, after reading all the appreciated reviews, I edites this chapter. I have decided to write something about their childhood before getting to the whole relationship part. The previous chapter 1 will possibly be revised and put up much later, but for now I decided to do it in a chronical order. And stuff. So. I read all the reviews, so keep doing that. And I want to thank everyone for favouriting/following/reviewing. Oh and I am not a native speaker, so feel free to point out my mistakes. Though I should probably get a beta for that... right?**

**Warning: (mentions of) rape**

**SkylerKnight: Thank you once again!**

* * *

_Chapter 1_

* * *

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."  
― Oscar Wilde

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not."  
― André Gide, Autumn Leaves

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."  
― Allen Saunders

* * *

As the years passed by everyone grew protective of the Riddle twins. Some may wonder what would happen if Tom grew in solitude. But like Mrs Cole promised a few years back on a cold February night, nobody would find out that the Riddle twins were in fact not related. The older orphans simply didn't have the heart to break up their happiness. Tom took the 'Older Twin'-roll really well. He would protect Hadrian from bullies, not that anyone dared to, from animals, he discovered that they did what he told them, and from sickness. But alas, this time sickness won. 'You might have won this battle, but I will win the war,' Tom thought. Or better, quoted from... Hannibal? Who cares. At the moment he was nursing his poor little brother back to health. Several helpers tried to pull him away from Hadrian - "It's for your health, Tom! We can't have you getting sick on us" "I don't care, I'm not leaving Hadrian's side" - but after effectively throwing a tantrum they had let him stay. And that's where one could find him: Next to Hadrian's bed. One of his hands was petting his hair while the other was holding a book. Hadrian was having a nightmare, a pretty bad one. Tom had been making shushing noises, but stiffened and stopped when he heard his younger twin mumble something under his breath.

"Mom"

Even after all those long, 6 years Hadrian would still have nightmares of their 'mother' leaving them at Wool's orphanage. For that he despised his parents all the more. 'How dare they leave two babies at a filthy, worn out orphanage, where the babies had to share their cots and everyone had to rely on the goodness of others? How dare those good-for-nothing drunks affect Hadrian like this?' Really, he would understand if they would've left him at such a place like Wool's, as Tom often thought that people only acted nice towards him because of Hadrian. His twin, with his cute, innocent smiles knew how to charm the people. Unfortunately, Tom didn't have this charm. He had to manipulate them. At first, he had hated Hadrian for being more liked than him. But then he realised that Hadrian was his brother. And besides, Hadrian hadn't known of his charms and was truly innocent. It was his job, as the older twin, to preserve this innocence as long as possible. 'I will find out who they were, and I will find them and make them pay,' Tom promised as he saw Hadrian shaking and whimpering in fear.

"Hadrian," he whispered while shaking said boy lightly, "Wake up, Hadrian"

He groggily opened his eyes. "Tom?" he whispered.

Tom smiled thinly. "Here," he handed Hadrian a glass of water, that stood on their table, "Drink something." Tom helped him to sit up and watched him drink the water.

"How are you feeling?" Hadrian just shrugged and lay down again. "Do you want to talk about your nightmare?" he tried again.

"Mom said we are freaks and she didn't want our freakishness contami- conamin-"

"contaminating"

"yeah that... Do you think we are freaks?"

Tom cupped his cheek and rubbed circled with his thump "No, Hadrian. Don't ever think that. Promise me." The boy nodded and closed his eyes.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" he whispered to Tom.

"Not yet. I want to finish my book." That was actually a lie. He would stay awake and stay beside Hadrian in case he needed him. 'I will protect you, little one.' He picked his book up again. 'Hmm, Leonardo da Vinci.'

After a few days Hadrian was nursed back to health. In that time Tom had secluded himself and had never left his books. Even after Hadrian had recovered from the flu.

"Tom, we are going to Regent's Park. Are you coming?" Hadrian asked merrily.

The older twin shook his head. "I won't be coming with you."

The younger boy visibly deflated at this, but tried not to show anything.

"See you," he whispered and ran to the other kids waiting in the hall.

Tom knew that his reply hurt his brother, but he simply couldn't bring himself to care. 'Why should I go and play games while I could read and learn?' he scoffed mentally. He thought back on his promise. He had promised to protect his brother. And in order to do this, he had to make a name for himself so he could take care of him. He would work for their money, maybe manipulate some politicians. And Hadrian would take care of the household and could play all he wanted. So while his younger played, he locked himself up in his room and drowned himself in his books. But he hadn't known that his decision would have dire consequences.

Hadrian ran to the hall. While chanting: 'I will not cry! I will not cry!' over and over in his head. 'Maybe Tom doesn't like me anymore...' Fortunately, somebody snapped him out of this.

"Harry! Let's go!" His best friend, Anique, yelled in his ear and dragging him down the hall, where the helpers were waiting for them.

"Is everyone ready? Aren't we forgetting someone?" Martha asked the children.

A series of 'no' s and 'yes' s were exclaimed.

"Okay, grab someone's hand and don't let go. Stay in line. Don't go off to anywhere. Stay in the park. Don't talk to strangers. Don't go with strangers to somewhere." Martha instructed them.

"A mother hen, I tell you," Oscar mumbled under his breath. Hadrian and Anique snickered. Oscar was a tall, gangly 8-year-old. With his fun personality he managed to befriend Hadrian - of course, after he had gained Tom's approval. But Anique was a lot different from Oscar. At first, she had been a shy, easily blushing girl. Hadrian remembered the day she had been dropped off clearly.

A muscular man, with a proud stance and a glare that could made anyone shiver, and a curvy woman, with icy blue eyes that looked into your very soul, had accompanied Anique. Tom and Hadrian had just turned 5 a few days ago, and were sitting in the play-room. A rapid knocking could be heard. Martha, who had been watching over the kids and even joined them a few times, stood up and hastily walked to the door. Everyone knew that if one knocked, it was to drop a child off, since it wasn't a Thursday. On Thursdays, Benjamin would run some errands. The children stopped with what they were doing and were watching the door now. Screams, shouts and sobbing could be heard.

"I do not need a reason to drop her off, m- woman."

"But sir, please, we haven't got any room left!"

"She could sleep in an alley for all I care. We just dropped her off as a last homage to the family," the woman spoke with a French accent.

"B-but.."

"We do not want the likes of her polluting our family tree," the man stated and left without turning around to say goodbye.

Hadrian was sitting in front of the window, where he could see the man and woman walking to an alley. The odd thing is that they never came out of it, though it was a blind alley. 'Weird,' he thought. Hadrian thought back on what the man had said. 'Polluting the family tree.. Is that why mom and dad had dropped Tom and me off? Were we polluting the family tree?' He refrained from phrasing his thoughts out loud. Tom didn't seem to react well whenever he began about their parents. 'Mom? Dad?' he would spat, 'They are not my neither your parents if they leave us in such a place.' Martha walked in with a small girl in her arms. The new girl had curly, silvery blond hair and grey, teary eyes. The moment they walked in, the blonde buried her face in Martha's neck, too embarrassed to look the children in the eye. The helper seemed to be whispering words of comfort and encouragement. Then she dropped the girl on a chair and walked out of the room. Everyone was still staring at the blonde. Frightened, the girl began to cry once more.

"What a cry-baby!" one of the older, mean orphans shouted, making some laugh.

"Don't call her that!" Hadrian yelled and stood up to walk to the new orphan. The 10-year-old stood up and hovered over him, in what was supposed to be a threatening manner.

"What are ya goin' to do 'bout it, Riddle!" He raised his hand to hit the boy, but was stopped by something hitting the back of his head, making him stumble onto the ground.

"Don't ever threaten my brother," Tom said.

All the orphans, except Hadrian, knew that Tom had the upper hand in the orphanage. One could compare the orphanage to a food chain. It was a bit unbelievable, but Tom was high on the food chain. Higher than the 10-year-old that dared to cross the Riddle twins.

"Hump"

But Hadrian didn't pay any mind to the kid, knowing that Tom would take care of him. Instead he comforted the girl.

"What's your name?" he asked while petting her, as it seemed to work on him whenever he was upset.

"A-anique Haüy," Anique said, still sobbing.

"My name is Hadrian Riddle and that," he pointed at his brother, "is my twin, Tom Riddle. Do you want to play with us?" With Anique's consent, he held her hand and walked them over towards the window.

After that they would do all sorts of things together. First, Anique was still shy, but he helped her break out of her shell and be the enthusiastic and quirky girl she is. They were the bestest of friends. And they were now dragging him to Regent's Park. Once they were there all the kids split up.

"Let's go to the swings!" Anique exclaimed while grabbing the 2 boys by their hands.

It was getting pretty late, as it was a summer day the helpers told them they were allowed to return later than normal. After playing on the swings, going down the slide and playing pirate, it was "time to play hide and seek," according to Oscar. And unfortunately, Hadrian had to find them. He was even searching in the bushes! But alas, he couldn't find them. Suddenly he heard a sound coming from the tree.

Thinking it was one of his friends, he yelled: "FOUND YOU!"

"Stupid human! Get away! I have to get to my nest!"

Hadrian was confused. 'Nest?'

"I'm sorry... mm.. Do you want me to help you?"

"You speak?" A snake lowered itself from one of the tree branches and watched him with sudden interest.

"A snake! How can you speak English?!"

The snake gave its version of a chuckle. "Silly human boy, I'm not speaking your language. You are speaking mine. The magical folk call it Parseltongue."

It was now slythering down to the ground and wound itself around the visibly shaking boy. But Hadrian couldn't show the snake that he was scared.

"Magical folk? There's no such thing as magic," he told it with a steady voice. And he was sure magic didn't exist. The caretakers at Wool's orphanage often told them and they would take the younger kids to the church on every Sunday.

"No?" The snake said amused. Was it even possible for a snake to be amused? "How are you speaking to me then, baby corn snake? Climb into that tree over there," it said while stretching out its neck in the direction of said tree, "And I will tell you everything." The snake slythered off his shoulders to the tree.

Hadrian wondered whether he should. 'Tom often tells me to stay away from snakes... But he never said anything about a speaking one,' he said, totally convincing himself with his great argument. After he climbed the tree, unscratched he would later lie, the snake ended up on his shoulders again.

"What is your name?"

"Name? I'm called a corn snake"

"So... You don't have a name? Can I give you one then?"

It seemed as if the snake was thinking about this.

"I'm a female"

Hadrian thought hard about it. A few days ago he read a book on jewels and when he looked at the pinkish snake, he remembered a beautiful stone. The pink selenite.

"Selenite. Is that okay with you?"

The snake nodded. "Let's get back to business, Exereunetes"

"…"

"…"

"What?" Hadrian looked bewildered at the snake, no, at Selenite.

"You gave me a name, so I gave you one. But let's not dwell on these matters. I will tell you about the Wizarding World. It is a society in which wizards, like one as yourself, and witches live and interact separate from Muggle, non-wizarding, society. The two communities are kept separate through the use of charms, spells, and secrecy. Wizards are forbidden to reveal anything about magic to Muggle society due to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. It is governed by the Ministry of Magic.

Magic is honed through study, training and formal schooling, but cannot be simply learnt by Muggles. Magic is used for mostly everything. Although on the surface, magic appears morally neutral, the benevolence or malevolence of a spell's nature is tied to the intention behind it. For instance, the Cruciatus Curse cannot effectively torture a victim with pain unless the caster desires to do true harm to the victim.

The technology of the wizarding world appears Medieval in character.

The Ministry of Magic is the British wizarding world's central authority, bureaucracy and law enforcement. The Ministry maintains numerous departments and offices and is highly organised and efficient. The Ministry is led by the Minister for Magic. Politically, there is no separation between executive, legislative and judicial branches of power. The Minister is elected, but it is unknown who has the power to elect him, although there does seem to be some degree of input from the general wizarding population.

The Wizengamot and the Council of Magical Law judge those guilty of breaking wizarding law and determines the fate of criminals. Trials consist of a short hearing with no lawyer or arbitrator and without any possibility to appeal. Criminals may be sent to horrible places such as Azkaban for punishment.

The Ministry of Magic controls a great deal of wizarding life, including methods of communication, transportation, internal affairs between wizards and other magical beings, internal security of the wizarding world, Non-Tradeable Material and even sports. The Ministry does not answer to any part of the Muggle government, but its head is obliged to inform the Prime Minister of events that could cause Muggle notice, such as escaped criminals or the importation of highly dangerous magical creatures. Other exceptions to this secrecy include the Muggle relatives of wizards. Wizarding nations do all appear to have their own Ministries of Magic, and there is an international governing body that coordinates between them all, the International Confederation of Wizards.

Wizarding currency has three types of coins and no decimal system. The coins are Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. 17 Sickles to a Galleon, 29 Knuts to a Sickle and 493 Knuts to a Galleon.

The most obvious example of wizard prejudice is what ranges from a longstanding disdain to genocidal hatred for Muggles, Muggle-borns, Squibs, and half-blood wizards. Older wizarding families and wizarding society elite lord blood purity over others. The practise of pure-blood intermarriage left many with mental illness caused by incest. Wizards appear magically capable until advanced old age, there seems less prejudice toward the old. Young wizards and witches, on the other hand, are often not respected till of legal age.

Werewolves, perfectly normal human beings the majority of their lives and terrifying monsters for a small fraction of it, are so hated and despised that to reveal their affliction is to end all possibility of future employment.

Giants, normally solitary creatures given to territorial aggression, were rendered nearly extinct by the refusal of wizards to allow them near habitable land. This forced their kind to cluster together in desolate rocky lands, leading to in-fighting and further deaths.

House-elves willingly and joyfully do whatever tasks their wizard masters ask of them, have thus been ruthlessly exploited for centuries as a slave-class. The fact that they seem to like being enslaved has made wizards send their house-elves on life-threatening errands at all corners of the globe. The casting-out of a house-elf from a family is the deepest and most traumatic punishment imaginable for them. This most often leads the house-elf to harm itself in grief to the point of death.

Goblins, while they appear to have at least a grudging co-existence with the wizard world, have nonetheless experienced much discrimination from wizards, and many have led significant uprisings against them in the past.

An untrained wizard child may perform random bursts of magic intuitively when distressed or excited. Honing and controlling this into a usable skill takes years of education. In Britain, there is no official primary school, however parents may home-school their children or send them to Muggle schools until they are of age to move on to formal wizarding education, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for example, the age of entry is eleven years on or before 1 September. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, located in Scotland, provides education to students in Britain. Students may enroll at age eleven and undertake seven years of training in a wide variety of subjects. When education is complete, graduates are considered mature and capable members of the wizarding society. On to the Wizarding Schools. Besides Hogwarts there are Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, located in southern France, a Brazilian Wizarding School, Durmstrang Institute, located somewhere in northern Europe, Salem Witches Institute, located in New England, America, Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts, Mahoutokoro, located in Japan. Hogwarts is one of the three largest wizarding schools in Europe, along with Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Of these, only Durmstrang seems to take on students from countries other than the one where it is located; Hogwarts only serves British students, and Beauxbatons appears to only take on students from France. As other, larger European countries - like Germany, Italy, and Spain - do not have wizarding schools that appear on the list of largest schools, some countries may have smaller, regional wizarding schools, rather than national ones, like Britain and France.

As witches and wizards live in any and all areas of the known world, wizard modes of transport and communication must cover distances in a variety of ways. Apparition allows an individual to vanish and appear at another place almost instantly. The act of Apparating creates a noise ranging from a small pop to a loud crack. It is difficult technique to master and becomes increasingly unreliable over long distances. It requires complete concentration on the destination, determination and focus upon the desired location, and deliberation and certainty of reaching the goal. Only of-age wizards who qualify for licences may legally Apparate. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry offers Apparition classes to students ages seventeen and older. Side-Along Apparition allows those with licences to bring minors along with them. Poor focus may result in Splinching, which causes body parts to be separated and left behind.

Floo powder is a green powder that is thrown into a lit fireplace and allows for a portal to connect to another fireplace at a desired location. The system is operated and overseen by the Floo Network, which is based at the Ministry of Magic. A fireplace must be connected to the Floo Network for one to travel to it, and fireplaces can be connected temporarily, in the case of travelling to Muggle homes. Arguably the most popular transport object, brooms. Wizards use broomsticks to travel long distances, or for sport, particularly in the game Quidditch. A range of flying creatures are also available for transport, such as Thestrals and Hippogriffs.

The most common means of communication is owls, which cooperate with wizards to convey packages, messages and letters. In some circumstances, the owl will request payment or food in exchange for services. In circumstances that a wizard or witch owns a separate animal that can be used instead.

Portkeys are objects that allow for travel across extreme distances or to places that have been charmed against detection. Portkeys may send unsuspecting people anywhere, and so they require Ministry authorisation to use and operate. They are disguised as ordinary trash, such as a crushed aluminium can or a dirty, discarded sock, so Muggles will ignore them. Portkeys can be set to activate either at a prearranged time, or as soon as the person comes in contact with them."

There was a long silence.

"..wow.." Hadrian said, clearly impressed. "How do you know all this stuff, Selenite?"

"Once I was… a witch's pet. But do you understand all of the information I gave you?"

Hadrian thought long and hard. "...Yes. Yes I think so"

Selenite bobbed her head up and down in acceptance. "Exereunetes, you have to go home. It's late." It was as if Hadrian snapped out of a trance. He jumped off the tree and began to ran towards where he thought Wool's orphanage was located.

"Stupid, stupid Hadrian!" he berated himself, "Tom will be sooo mad. I don't even know where I am going.." the boy said clearly in distress, fear and hopelessness.

"Relax. I will help you," Selenite hissed.

If one were to cross the streets of London at midnight, he might not return. But with a snake wrapped around him, hissing at everyone and everything that came in a 5 ft range, one would manage. If one were not such a cute and adorable – totally delectable, a pervert would exclaim – young boy as Hadrian was. When Hadrian turned a corner, he was suddenly grabbed by 2 men. Selenite was hissing at his attackers, her venom was dripping out of her mouth. Unfortunately, one of his attackers grabbed a stick and hit the poor snake off of the boy and into a sack. One might wonder where they got the sack from, well, if you are planning to gang rape someone, you have to shut the person up. This gang used a sack, but it seems that they could use it for a different purpose today.

"LET MME G-MMMM" Hadrian cried, before a hand clamped over his mouth.

"Shuuhhh, lil' one. We'll have you screaming in pleasure in no time," the man said in what he thought to be a seductive manner. Hadrian was crying and trying to attack the men. But he was dragged further down the alley.

Tom was fidgeting. His nerves were frayed. Hours ago, Hadrian had went to Regent's park with the helpers and the children. But when they came later than normal, he had known something was amiss. At first, he thought it was because it was summer and it would get darker later than normal. That thought had refrained him from running out of the orphanage alone. But when they had finally returned, Hadrian was not with them.

"Where. Is. My. Brother." he asked darkly, it held a promise of great pain if the answer was not satisfaction.

"...We couldn't find him..." Martha told him softly.

"SO YOU LEFT HIM THERE!"

Everyone was terrified.

"Get away. I'm going to search for him."

"NO TOM! You can't, it's getting late. Who knows who might be out there at such a time."

Now Tom looked murderous.

"What do you think that will happen to Hadrian at this hour?"

"Please Tom! Listen to me!" Martha said, grabbing him by his wrist.

"NO!" "Tom! Hadrian left!"

She had to lie. She couldn't bear to tell him that his twin might be dead or raped or kidnapped or.. She just had to. It was for his own protection.

"Do not lie to me! Hadrian would never do that to me." Martha didn't know what to say anymore. How could she possibly persuade him not to go out?

"First you don't want me to search for him, then you lie to me. Woman, I will not stay here while Hadrian could be.." He didn't dare to finish that sentence. Mrs Cole, who had wondered what all the commotion was all about, let her office and hurried towards the hall.

"What is going on here?"

Nobody dared to answer her.

"Hadrian... We couldn't find him, Mrs Cole," Martha said with a tremble in her voice. "That's why I have to go look for him," Tom finished.

"So you think you can find him while others couldn't? You're planning on finding him on your own?" Mrs Cole asked him sarcastically. "Don't be daft, Riddle"

The boy looked furious and opened his mouth to scream and shout things at the matron, but she effectively silenced him by slapping him, hard.

"If you go out there, there is a good chance you won't return. Imagine that Hadrian returns and you don't. What good would that do? Sleep and we will look for him first thing in the morning. I will call the police. Let them handle the search for tonight."

With that she returned to her office. Tom gave up. He would do as the matron said, but if he would find his Hadrian's body or if he wouldn't find the boy at all, there would be hell to pay. He slowly walked to his room, while thinking about the promise he had made not so long ago. 'I had promised to protect him... I am a worthless son and a worthless brother...'

"Tom... Tom, wake up," someone whispered while shaking him lightly. "You have to wake up, we are going to search for Hadrian today," the same person said.

Immediately, Tom jumped out of his bed. How could he forget? He had been awake all night thinking of the worst-case scenarios. The person, who woke him up, was Anique, Hadrian's proclaimed best friend. And what a friend she was, losing his brother.

"Get out," he said darkly. Although she was visibly shaken, she did not show it, much.

"No. I want to tell you what happened."

He nodded his head in acceptance. He would just hurt her after she told him what happened.

"We decided to play hide and seek, and Hadrian had to find us. But I grew tired of sitting hunched behind a tree, so I decided to go back to the swings. When I came there, everyone was sitting in the park. I asked what happened and everyone replied that they grew tired of hiding and came to the park, like me. Martha thought that something was wrong and ordered us to search for him in groups of 3. But no one managed to find him Tom... I was so scared for him. But we had to return, it was getting too late. I hope you can forgive me," at the end of her speech, she was crying her eyes out.

Tom nodded in acceptance. It seemed logical, but that didn't mean that he could worry any less for his brother.

"Come," he said while grabbing her hand, "we have to go"

Together they somewhat ran off the stairs. In the hall policemen were talking in hushed voices to Mrs Cole and Martha. Both women looked shaken. 'No… no, it can't be,' Tom thought, expecting the worst.

"Where is Hadrian?"

This seemed to get the attention of the policemen and the women. The adults didn't know how to tell the 6-year-old the bad news.

"Erm... Boy... We managed to find your brother..." the braver of the two policemen told him.

"But?"

The gazes of the adults crossed briefly. "He is in the hospital. We didn't find him in such a good state..."

"Bring me to him," Tom demanded.

"I really don't think we can-" "I don't care what you can and can't, bring me to him or I will go off on my own."

"Tom, Hadrian is hurt badly, let him heal a bit before visiting him, okay?" Martha asked him, more like begged. No child should find out what happened to Hadrian. Nothing should have happened to Hadrian. Martha was blaming herself for the accident. It was eating her up, gnawing at her conscience.

"No" and Tom tried to get to the door.

"Riddle! Listen to your elders! When we say you can't visit your brother, you simply can't. And believe me, boy, we have our reasons." Mrs Cole snapped at the boy.

"Then stop lying and tell me. Then you can bring me to him or I will go off on my own."

"He... Well," the brave policeman tried again, "he was assaulted."

Tom froze. Literally. Figuratively. He just stopped breathing. Everything began to spin around him. 'NoNONONONO!' he was repeating it like a mantra in his mind. 'Hadrian...' was his last thought, before he fainted.


End file.
